1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer software, and in particular to a method and apparatus for accessing related computer objects.
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2. Background Art
A user of a computer system typically operates on multiple computer objects over the course of time. Some examples of computer objects are documents, calendar entries, web pages, spreadsheets, other users' contact information and e-mail messages. Frequently, a computer object is related in some manner to other computer objects such that a user using the computer object is likely to wish to access the related computer objects as well. Additionally, a computer object is also frequently related to users such that a user using the computer object is likely to wish to access, or communicate with, the related users. Current schemes for accessing related computer objects and users are inefficient. This problem can be better understood by a review of accessing computer objects and users.
Accessing Computer Objects
Computer objects contain information users wish to access. E-mail messages, word processing documents, spreadsheet documents, calendar appointments, web pages and electronic voice messages are examples of computer objects, but generally a computer object refers to any collection of data in a computer system that is organized in some manner and is useful to a person. Users wishing to access a computer object typically must search through a file system hierarchy to locate the computer objects. For example, in one computer environment, assume a user wishes to open a computer object named “document1.” If “document1” is not presently available to the user, the user might open a “documents” folder which might contain a “project” folder. Inside the “project” folder might be a “letters” folder, and inside the “letters” folder might be “document1.”
The above method of accessing a computer object involves many actions by the user which is disadvantageous. One method which circumvents the need to search through the file system hierarchy for a computer object is to manually enter the computer object's location in the file system hierarchy. In the example above, the user might type “/documents/project/letters/document1” into a dialog box, causing the computer object to be opened. However, if the user is unaware of the desired computer object's location in the file system hierarchy, this method is not useful.
Another option available to a user is to allow the computer to automatically search for the computer object in the file system hierarchy. For instance, a user might type “document1” into a search dialog. The computer locates all computer objects by that name and presents them to the user. The user is then able to open the desired computer object by selecting it from the computer objects returned by the search. However, since the above method locates all computer objects that meet the search criteria, the user may be presented with a large list of potential computer objects and might be unaware which of the presented computer objects is the desired computer object.